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Social Robotics: Theory, Methods and Applications
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Social Robotics: Theory, Methods and Applications

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Robotics and Automation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2022) | Viewed by 18887

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Elena Lazkano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Computer Sciences and Artificial Intelligence, University of the Basque Country (Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea), 20018 Donostia, Spain
Interests: social robotics; robot body expression; robot behavior coordination; bioinspired navigation; artificial intelligence
Dr. Igor Rodriguez Rodriguez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Computer Sciences and Artificial Intelligence, University of the Basque Country (Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea), 48940 Leioa, Spain
Interests: social robotics; cognitive robotics; robot behavior evaluation; artificial intelligence; machine learning; image and video processing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Social robotics aims to provide robots with artificial social intelligence to improve human–machine interaction and to introduce them in complex human contexts.

Over the most recent decades, research in the field of social robotics has considerably grown. There are a growing number of different types of robots, and their roles within society are expanding little by little. Robots endowed with social abilities aim to be used for assisting people in a wide range of activities, from domestic to service tasks up to educational and medical assistance. In the future, if it were possible to interact with robots in a natural way, they could be used to enhance the quality of our daily life and, indeed, become the next generation of interfaces for enabling humans to interact with smart environments via the Internet of Things (IoT), a currently fashionable topic that aims to connect different devices via network enabling them to exchange data.

This Special Issue (SI) aims to encourage researchers to address recent advances in the latest technologies, new research results, and developments in the area of social robotics.

Keywords

  • social robot
  • socially assistive robotics
  • autonomous robot
  • social behaviors
  • adaptive robot behavior
  • robot body expression
  • robot behavior coordination
  • human–robot interaction and robot–robot interaction

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2051 KiB  
Article
An Animation Character Robot That Increases Sales
by Reo Matsumura and Masahiro Shiomi
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1724; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031724 - 8 Feb 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2572
Abstract
Performing the role of a shopping assistant is one promising application for social robots. Robot clerks can provide a richer experience for customers and increase sales; however, the scant opportunities for interaction with customers in real shopping environments is a typical drawback. We [...] Read more.
Performing the role of a shopping assistant is one promising application for social robots. Robot clerks can provide a richer experience for customers and increase sales; however, the scant opportunities for interaction with customers in real shopping environments is a typical drawback. We solve this problem by developing a unique networked salesclerk system that consists of a virtual agent that acts through the customer’s smartphone and a physical agent that performs as a robot salesclerk in an actual store environment. Toward this capability, in cooperation with Production I.G. Inc., an animation production company, we adopted a character named Tachikoma from “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” (commonly known as the S.A.C. series) when designing the appearance and features of both agents. We conducted a field test to investigate how our system contributed to the sales of Ghost in the Shell anime-themed products, and the results showed the advantages of our system for increasing sales. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Robotics: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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14 pages, 2106 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Philosophical Dialogue with a Robot and with a Human
by Yurina Someya and Takamasa Iio
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1237; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031237 - 25 Jan 2022
Viewed by 2046
Abstract
Philosophical dialogue is an effective way to deepen one’s thoughts, but it is not easy to practice it because humans have emotions. We proposed the use of a robot in practicing philosophical dialogue and experimentally investigated how philosophical dialogue with a robot differs [...] Read more.
Philosophical dialogue is an effective way to deepen one’s thoughts, but it is not easy to practice it because humans have emotions. We proposed the use of a robot in practicing philosophical dialogue and experimentally investigated how philosophical dialogue with a robot differs from philosophical dialogue with a human. The results of the experiment showed that (1) participants talking to a human spend more time answering than those talking to a robot, (2) the increase in the time participants spend answering comes from the increase in the time participants spend speaking and is not influenced by reaction latency and pause time so much, (3) the reason for the increase in the time spent speaking is that some participants who talked to a human were likely to choose their words so as not to make the interlocutor uncomfortable and rephrased their thoughts so that they were easier for the interlocutor to understand, and some participants who talked to a robot might have thought that the robot would not be concerned even if they give a brief answer, and finally (4) it seems there is no significant difference in the depth of thought between participants talking to a human and participants talking to a robot. These results suggest the effectiveness of using robots for philosophical dialogue, in particular for people who feel nervous about talking to others. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Robotics: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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15 pages, 4647 KiB  
Article
Using Multiple Robots to Increase Suggestion Persuasiveness in Public Space
by Marcos Inky Tae, Kohei Ogawa, Yuichiro Yoshikawa and Hiroshi Ishiguro
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 6080; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11136080 - 30 Jun 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2454
Abstract
Though existing social robots can already be used in a variety of applications, there are technical limitations to their use, especially outside the laboratory, and humans do not fully trust or recognize them. Considering these problems, a method to make humans accept a [...] Read more.
Though existing social robots can already be used in a variety of applications, there are technical limitations to their use, especially outside the laboratory, and humans do not fully trust or recognize them. Considering these problems, a method to make humans accept a robot’s suggestion more easily was investigated. An idea called “sequential persuasion” was developed to use multiple robots distant from each other to deliver small messages, rather than a single robot for the entire interaction. To experimentally validate this concept, a field experiment was performed on a university campus. Two bottles of hand sanitizer were placed in one of the entrances to a building, and their usage was observed under three different conditions: no robot, one robot, and three robots. As people passed through the entrance corridor, the robots promoted the usage of the hand sanitizers. After several days of testing, it was found that the usage increased progressively from no robot to one robot to three robots, indicating that the number of robots influenced the behavior of the humans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Robotics: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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11 pages, 4223 KiB  
Article
Expressing Robot Personality through Talking Body Language
by Unai Zabala, Igor Rodriguez, José María Martínez-Otzeta and Elena Lazkano
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 4639; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11104639 - 19 May 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3840
Abstract
Social robots must master the nuances of human communication as a mean to convey an effective message and generate trust. It is well-known that non-verbal cues are very important in human interactions, and therefore a social robot should produce a body language coherent [...] Read more.
Social robots must master the nuances of human communication as a mean to convey an effective message and generate trust. It is well-known that non-verbal cues are very important in human interactions, and therefore a social robot should produce a body language coherent with its discourse. In this work, we report on a system that endows a humanoid robot with the ability to adapt its body language according to the sentiment of its speech. A combination of talking beat gestures with emotional cues such as eye lightings, body posture of voice intonation and volume permits a rich variety of behaviors. The developed approach is not purely reactive, and it easily allows to assign a kind of personality to the robot. We present several videos with the robot in two different scenarios, and showing discrete and histrionic personalities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Robotics: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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14 pages, 1663 KiB  
Article
Abel: Integrating Humanoid Body, Emotions, and Time Perception to Investigate Social Interaction and Human Cognition
by Lorenzo Cominelli, Gustav Hoegen and Danilo De Rossi
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(3), 1070; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11031070 - 25 Jan 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6702
Abstract
Humanoids have been created for assisting or replacing humans in many applications, providing encouraging results in contexts where social and emotional interaction is required, such as healthcare, education, and therapy. Bioinspiration, that has often guided the design of their bodies and minds, made [...] Read more.
Humanoids have been created for assisting or replacing humans in many applications, providing encouraging results in contexts where social and emotional interaction is required, such as healthcare, education, and therapy. Bioinspiration, that has often guided the design of their bodies and minds, made them also become excellent research tools, probably the best platform by which we can model, test, and understand the human mind and behavior. Driven by the aim of creating a believable robot for interactive applications, as well as a research platform for investigating human cognition and emotion, we are constructing a new humanoid social robot: Abel. In this paper, we discussed three of the fundamental principles that motivated the design of Abel and its cognitive and emotional system: hyper-realistic humanoid aesthetics, human-inspired emotion processing, and human-like perception of time. After reporting a brief state-of-the-art on the related topics, we present the robot at its stage of development, what are the perspectives for its application, and how it could satisfy the expectations as a tool to investigate the human mind, behavior, and consciousness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Robotics: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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